


Thank You For Staying With Me

by xkingofgamesx



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:41:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22604884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xkingofgamesx/pseuds/xkingofgamesx
Summary: Very short drabble for a Tumblr prompt.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 8
Kudos: 17





	Thank You For Staying With Me

-0-0-0-

Draco Malfoy had made mistakes in his short life. So many mistakes that he had lost track of them. His crimes were too numerous to count-- though the Wizengamot did their very best to do just that. 

The cards had always been stacked against him. His destiny had been a clear path that had been blazed long before he had even drawn his first breath. The ideology and beliefs of his zealot forebearers had set his doom in motion and he had been helpless to stop it. For most of his life, he had even been a willing participant in what would come to be his own self-destruction, a wicked and cruel bigot that had used his station and privilege to spread misery to all those that he deemed to be his lessers-- a list which was extensive. 

It was not until he was in far too deep and no escape was possible that he came to realize that he had set himself on the wrong side of history, that in this story he was an antagonist and that he would be smitten along with the rest as his world was razed to the ground in ruin and bloodshed. 

He had wanted out-- Merlin, had he wanted out. But that was never the way that Draco Malfoy's story was meant to end. 

He could recall now that feeling in his chest as he saw the body of The Dark Lord collapse in a lifeless heap on the floor of the rubble-strewn Great Hall, Harry Potter standing victorious above him-- beaten, battered and bruised, but victorious, with none other than Draco's own Hawthorne wand in his hand. It had felt as if a levy had given way, all of the terror he had held inside him spilling out all at once. 

He had met the eyes of the Gryffindor once there in the Great Hall, steely grey catching hold of rich absinthe for just a moment. He knew then that their rivalry and everything that had come with it was over. There was no animosity in the eyes of Harry Potter-- just the look of a man who was aged far beyond his years and who was tired from the war he had fought through the whole of his life. Potter did not want to fight him any longer, and Malfoy could not help but to reflect the sentiment. 

The Malfoys had not fled from Hogwarts. They sat in the Great Hall amongst the victors and waited patiently, not saying a word to anyone, knowing that their luck had run out. It did not take long for them to be escorted away, none of them offering any resistance as they were placed under arrest for, what had been defined at the time as, Terrorist Crimes Against the Wizarding World. 

The trials had been swift and merciless, their sentences had been clear and aggressive. Sentences which lead Draco to where he was now, sitting on the hard stone floor of his cell in Azkaban, wearing a worn and ragged set of prisoner's robes, his blond hair dishevelled and overgrown, now hanging limply around his face. The only comfort he had here, as a very temporary reprieve, was the wizard sitting next to him, their fingers laced together gently. 

Harry Potter was wearing a large cable knit sweater, his brow furrowed unhappily as they sat in silence. He smelled like broomstick oils, fresh air and the underlying spice of his cheap cologne, which Draco could not quite define but was able to recognise the whole of it as a perfect replica of his Amortentia. It was comforting and helped to keep the blond settled as they waited together. 

Malfoy let out a small sigh and let his head rest on Potter's shoulder as he quietly whispered, "Thank you for staying with me."

The Gryffindor had testified on his behalf throughout the trials. He had tried with all his might to compel the Wizengamot to be lenient, to give the boy a chance to prove he could reform. He had spoken passionately about Malfoy's denial of his identity at Malfoy Manor, he had stated that Draco lowered his wand that night on the Astronomy Tower. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the boy's heart was not in it. He knew that he could change. 

The arguments had fallen on deaf ears. Malfoy's sentence was set- the same as any other who had taken the mark, all those who had sided with Voldemort. 

The raven-haired boy had submitted appeals and tried to contest the verdict. He pulled every string available to him but nothing would change the minds of the Wizengamot.

He had come to see Malfoy many times while the blond waited for his sentence to be passed. At first, they spoke of plans for further appeals arguments that could be made on his behalf but as the day drew nearer they spoke instead of the things they would have liked to do, had fate been more kind. The friendship they would have liked to build and confessed that they both would have wanted more. 

Beside him, Harry's breath seemed to catch in his throat and it took him several long moments to lean over, pressing his lips tenderly against the Slytherin's brow and replying just as quietly, his voice barely audible as his grip tightened on Draco's and Aurors approached the cell with a lone dementor in tow, his words shaking with every syllable as they fell from his lips, "Until the very end."

-0-0-0-

**Author's Note:**

> Post on Tumblr:
> 
> https://milo-ren-solo.tumblr.com/post/190704139207/bliss-15-drarry-please-and-thanks-from-this


End file.
